20130909

1001 Beers: Terrible Delerium

1001 Beers: Delirium Tremens & Terrible

I went over to one of my noncraft/says he appreciates good beer coworkers place the other night and I had no idea what to bring to drink. I figured I could get something fairly common, popular, and tasty... while knocking a few beers off of my list. The result, a great night.

Beer Number 101: Brouwerij Huyghe Delerium Tremens

Brouweij Huyghe has an odd reputation in Belgian brewing--it gets no respect. One reason for this is its pursuit of off-the-wall beers, such as Mongozo Coconut Beer, served in a glass styled after a half coconut shell, of course, and the Floris line of fruit beers, which includes one flavored with cactus and another with chocolate. Then there is the Rubbel Sexy Lager, whose label sports female models adorned with scratch-off swimsuits, about which the less said the better. But behind the gimmicks, smoke, and mirrors ia a serious brewery with some seriously enjoyable beers, such as their flagship Delirium Tremens.

This honestly came to me as a surprise. This is crazy, I had no idea a brewery outside of the US was doing things like this... hell, we aren't even doing some of this stuff. I guess there is something to look forward to, just for fun. There is even more controversy about this beer as the reading goes on. It even talks about the beer being pulled from shelves here in America... wtf... well, crazy!

Well, this beer was a success. It got the job done, and he enjoyed it. Not that I am surprised, this is a great beer. We even drank a Nocturnum after this. A nice, bright, fruity, dry beer. A great beer to open the night with.

Beer Number 102: Unibroue Terrible

An iconic line from the early days of rap music explains that something or someone bad could be "not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good!" And so it is with Terrible, a pitch-black and intimidating strong ale first unleashed on the public at the 2002 edition of the Montreal beer festival, La Mondial de la Biere.

I always made fun of the name when I saw it in stores, but people always told me it was good. I guess that is the explanation, but hmmm...

I have to agree, this beer is not as terrible as I thought it would be. Nice dark fruits, spices, cherry, banana, burnt chocolate, but smooth. Very nice and refreshing. 3 winners for the night, 2 1001's. I guess I will leave off with an image of the second beer we drank.